Recent history has demonstrated that fires in structures which are densely occupied such as office buildings and hotels exert a nigh toll on human life. The widespread use of synthetic material for construction and decorations of these types of buildings results in a high level of toxic smoke which quickly invades the normal evacuation routes such as stairwells and elevator shafts; leaving the outside windows as the only way to escape. A jump from a window above the third or fourth floor is often fatal. Fireman ladders, in most cases, cannot reach beyond the fifteenth floor. Accordingly, there is a need for an evacuation device which could be quickly lowered from an upper story window. Such a device should be operable by an unskilled person with no prior training and should provide a reasonable degree of safety without being cumbersome, intricate or expensive to fabricate, install and maintain. The descent by means of such a device should be totally controllable at the discretion of the user in order to increase his feeling of safety and decrease any risk of panic and uncontrolled reflexes. The evacuation device should be compact and attractively packaged and not substantially affect the architectural character of the building.